the anti-abortion christians are one of my pet peeves, i must admit. i was absolutely delighted to read an article in the Post the other day about a catholic cardinal standing up for immigrant rights, in opposition to the republicans--far too often the abortion issue gets everyone who is anti-abortion to follow blindly. i'll believe far more in someone's sincerity as being "pro-life" when he or she thinks about voting for the candidate who promises to work to against the famine, disease and malnutrition that are slaughtering so many of the world's children. the fundamentalist approach only seems to care about unborn "children", ignoring living, breathing babies who die every day. voting for and supporting the party that opposes abortion and gay rights, whilst not worrying about who will do the most for the poor, the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned (i know there's a bit jesus said about helping them too) makes faith incredibly narrow-minded and, frankly, sickening to me.
though at least the death penalty argument is in favor of killing the guilty, so does not directly contradict the anti-abortion stance that claims to protect the innocent. personally, i think all killing is wrong, and can only be considered acceptable when it is the lesser of 2 evils, so we're defense of self or others--certainly not the case for the death penalty. even when acceptable it is still wrong, but we don't live in a world where right is always an option. sometimes it's just an issue of doing the least harm.
but yeah, religion is something i think about a great deal. some of the people i most respect and love are christians, many are pagans, atheist or agnostics. personally, i am leery of all dogma and organised religion, but i also recognise that for many people this are very valuable paths to finding their own spirtuality and i have no kind of monopoly on truth.
it would be lovely to chat with you in person some time. of course, i currently live on the other side of the atlantic...but should it ever come up...
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Date: 2006-04-04 05:27 am (UTC)though at least the death penalty argument is in favor of killing the guilty, so does not directly contradict the anti-abortion stance that claims to protect the innocent. personally, i think all killing is wrong, and can only be considered acceptable when it is the lesser of 2 evils, so we're defense of self or others--certainly not the case for the death penalty. even when acceptable it is still wrong, but we don't live in a world where right is always an option. sometimes it's just an issue of doing the least harm.
but yeah, religion is something i think about a great deal. some of the people i most respect and love are christians, many are pagans, atheist or agnostics. personally, i am leery of all dogma and organised religion, but i also recognise that for many people this are very valuable paths to finding their own spirtuality and i have no kind of monopoly on truth.
it would be lovely to chat with you in person some time. of course, i currently live on the other side of the atlantic...but should it ever come up...